From EU Aid to Continue to Bypass Palestinian Government:
EU aid will bypass the Hamas-led Palestinian government until it recognizes Israel, renounces violence, and abides by interim peace deals, EU aid commissioner Louis Michel said Thursday. “As long as these criteria are not fulfilled, there will not be a change in the system, the manner, [or] the process of aid support from the European Union,” he said. Palestinians had hoped the formation of a unity government between Hamas and Fatah would prompt the EU and other major donors to lift a year-old economic embargo of the PA.